April 21, 2010

my apologies.

Sorry for the absence. This is neither the first time nor the last for me, as you know, but hopefully by now you've come to accept (or did a long long time ago) this among my many flaws, and have already forgiven me. How convenient for me!

The last three weeks have been just nuts-o-rama, without a spare second to breathe, although who am I kidding, I would take a spare second to sleep over breathing. But that's just me. I attempted to cram in some extra hours at work to earn just enough vacation time to leave this past weekend, even though we had been out of town the two weekends before. Nothing like dumping your suitcase out at 10pm Sunday night, washing everything, and putting it back in on Friday morning. I felt like I only came home to sleep for about ten minutes every night. But anyway.

This past weekend was the Festival of Faith and Writing at my good old alma mater, and it was just delicious. Every time I go, I realize just how much I miss the learning, literary community I lived in college. I have a refreshed reading list, communed with friends, and learned more than a few new things. It felt like church.

So, here are some of my favorite bits and pieces from the weekend.

"I don't expect to see them again, but as is the case with God, I am open to surprises." - Matt Ruff (speaking of his dead parents)

"God's idea of healing--restoring wholeness to our community--might not look like ours. Healing is not curing." - Sara Miles,

"Writing is a way of paying attention. Writing is an act of prayer." - Eugene Peterson

"At some point, something's gonna go wrong, so you ought to have a good pair of boots on." - Michael Perry

"I'm just a schmo with a gig." - Michael Perry

"We live in a beloved, created world, and we are guests here. We are caretakers too, but in the sense that we care but also honor, and keep, with a deep sense of responsibility that it may continue." - Kathleen Dean Moore & Scott Russell Sanders